To Örebro University

Dandelion (lat. Taraxacum) belongs to the Asteraceae family, and it is known mainly for its medicinal properties. For many years it has been successfully used worldwide in the food industry as a completely non-toxic and edible plant. It is an extremely rich source of phenolic acids, flavonoids and terpenes. Dandelion is also a powerful source of vitamins and minerals (calcium, sodium, magnesium, iron, copper, silicon, zinc, manganese). Due to its high content of nutrients, dandelion is often used as an ingredient for preparing salads and as a substitute for coffee or tea.[1] Soil and plant contamination with potentially heavy elements such as As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Sb, Sn, Zn is becoming the subject of scientific research due to their harmfulness to human health. Variations in concentration of these elements are caused by the chemical composition of the original rocks and anthropogenic activities as well as different soil properties such as sorption capacity. [2]

The aim of this research was to determine the elemental composition of dandelion from various regions of Croatia by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The samples for ICP-MS analysis were prepared by microwave digestion in a closed vessel.

REFERENCES

[1] B. Olas, Nutr. 2023, 28, 1–2.

[2] V. Mihaylova, G. Yotova, K. Marinova, A. Benderev, V. Lyubomirova, S. Tsakovski App. Sci. 2020, 9,2–3.